Promotion of Justice as an Independent Criminal Procedure Function

Abstract

The article proves the necessity of involving the persons assisting the parties and the Court into criminal proceedings. The author analyzes the promotion of justice as an independent criminal procedure function under Chapter 8 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation, which is carried out by both the participants of criminal proceedings and by other subjects of criminal law relations who do not have an independent procedural status. The conducted social and legal analysis made it possible to state that the development of the idea of the rule of law requires individuals to obtain a correct understanding of the organization of the modern society, its development trends, and the necessity of acquiring due legal awareness. The understanding of legal awareness varied throughout the history of our state but what remained unchanged were the ideas that it can be influenced and that it determines the development of law and the law enforcement itself. Citizens with the due level of legal awareness are ready to promote justice, which testifies to their high level of social development, a desire to be involved in law enforcement work, to bring justice and ensure legality of procedural decisions. The author shows that criminal proceedings in Russia require facilitation, but the majority of people are not ready to provide it for a number of reasons, which proves the need for a detailed analysis of promoting justice in the modern Russian criminal process. The conducted research stresses the theoretical and practical inadequacy of the three-part system of criminal procedure functions enshrined in the current Russian criminal procedure legislation. The author examines the possibility of singling out the promotion of justice as an independent criminal procedure institute necessary for making lawful, well-grounded and comprehensive procedural decisions by officials and state bodies. The author concludes that it is necessary to introduce changes in the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federations which will foresee the possibility of renaming Chapter 8 of the Code. Besides, having analyzed the concept of «justice», the author presents his position of what should be understood as the promotion of justice.